The Nuts and Bolts of the Fortnite Grappler Tool

Have you ever found yourself with an incredible urge to swing around like Batman in the city, using a powerful grappler to get from place to place and scare the bejeezus out of criminals? Well, even if you haven’t, guess what! Fortnite’s got you covered. In this Fortnite Grappler guide, I’ll take you through everything you need to know about this awesome tool.

What is it?

I suppose no place is better to start than with the basic question: what in the blazes is a grappler? Well, here ya go: the grappler is a tool for quickly getting from place to place. It’s like a tiny harpoon that latches onto things and hauls you up to it. Sound pretty cool? Well, that’s because it is.

Unfortunately, there’s a downside. Yes, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it only has 10 uses. Like a gun with ammo, it’ll run out of harpoons and you will now be holding a non-functional doohickey that takes up a spot in your inventory.

What can I hook with it?

This is the great part. The grappler can connect to dang near anything solid. Yes, that means trees, structures of any kind (even if they were built by an enemy player), the ground itself, mountains, vehicles, you name it. It has an astonishingly large base of things that works with it. Here’s the basic rule: if you, as a player, would run into it and not be able to go through it, you’ll be able to hook it.

So, no, that doesn’t include bushes, or fogs, or anything like that. The only exception to that rule is actual players themselves because you won’t be able to attach to anyone. It has to be inanimate.

But is it reliable?

The first question I asked when it first came out is one that you might be asking yourself currently: is this thing reliable, or will it end up because of the cause of your demise? Well, let’s delve deeper into that question because it’s not as simple as one might anticipate.

The way I see it, this question can be broken down into a couple parts. First off—does the grappler connect with what it’s supposed to? The answer to that is yes, it doesn’t miss or fall off early. For such a potentially nightmarish tool, it does its job remarkably well and I’ve never seen it simply stop functioning or not operate like it’s supposed to.

Unfortunately, there’s another part to the question of reliability, and here it is—does the grappler do what you’re thinking it will? This is where we get into user error. The tool will do exactly what it’s supposed to, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing to use for everyone. Personally, I’m atrocious with it. I wasted eight, count ‘em, eight shots trying to get up one ridiculous hill last week. That doesn’t mean I’m not a good Fortniter, but good heavens, I’m useless with it. If you’re like me and the way the grappler works simply eludes you, don’t feel bad.

What are the best uses?

Okay, now you’ve got a solid understanding of what it is, along with a basic grasp of how it works, but let’s not forget the most important thing to know: what are you supposed to do with it? Don’t worry. I got you covered.

Escape. The grappler is the absolute most annoying thing to play against because one second you’ve got an enemy player down to virtually no health and the next second they’re a quarter of the way across the map and you have zero idea what just happened. Pro tip—they probably grappled. In the right hands, a grappler can be close to impossible to catch.

Storm survival. Same thing. The grappler will get you across some distances faster than you’d anticipate, so use it properly and you’ll whip the storm. I’ve seen people with literally 2 health go halfway across the map with the storm at their tail using one.

Getting to enemies. Sometimes, no matter how good you are, you’ll end up on the bottom of a mountain with some enormous base and opposition above you, and the storm’s making you go up that mountain. Whip out your trusty grappler and you’ll be up there in a flash.

This one is riskier, but if you’re very good with the grappler, you’ll be able to pull off some absurd, flying shots.

What are the worst uses?

You know I have to bring this up because knowing what to never do is just as important as knowing how to use it properly. Summed up, I’ll put it in three words: don’t kill yourself. I’ll explain below.

Escaping badly. Wait, wasn’t that one of the things that you’re supposed to use it for? Yes, but with a twist: you can’t do it badly. Case in point: you’re building battling at the top of a mountain and you grapple to escape, but you accidentally jettison yourself into the open air, fall a hundred meters, and die. Always know how high up you are.

Not watching your ammo. Regardless of your talent with it, if you run out of ammo, you’re not going to be in a good spot.

Forgetting to use a weapon. You just got up to an enemy’s base and got the drop on them, but you forgot to whip out a weapon, and you stared at them in confusion before the other player shot you. I’m insulted that you’d suggest I was speaking from experience.

Just because you can get up into an enemy base does not mean you should. Watch where you’re going, or someone might catch you with a trap. I’ve done it and I’ve had it happen to me.

The Old Switcheroo. This, although funny, is tragic. While looting, you meant to switch your sniper out for another sniper, but whoops, you accidentally gave up your grappler and now you’ve got two sniper rifles and zero grapplers. Check your inventory before diving off a cliff confidently.

Summary

In conclusion, the Fortnite Grappler can be your best friend and your worst enemy. As far as if you should use it, that depends on a lot of things, like play style, experience, trust in the grappler itself, and so forth. My advice is to try it at least once.